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Sunday, 24 March 2013

Yes - I'm moving. After nearly two years of blogging at Stylish Settings I am moving to DIY Decorator

Why am I moving?

Well you see we are moving house. Exciting. We have spent 12 very happy years at this house, but it was time for a change, so we are leaving behind our new-build home in the suburbs for a 1930's Queenslander with a beautiful wrap around deck. It is from this deck that I will soon be blogging.

How to Stay in Touch?

If you follow this blog by facebook or twitter, you don't need to do anything. You will still get all of DIY Decorator's posts. Same goes if you follow on pinterest or instagram.

If you follow with google friend connect you will need to find another way to follow as I am moving to wordpress and I can't use Google Friend Connect over there. Google Plus will still work but my posts are not automatically posted there - I have to remember to add a link everytime I write a post.

Following Blogs with a Reader

I follow many blogs and I get their posts either on my Blogger home page or via Google Reader. Unfortunately Google Reader will cease to work from 1 July, 2013, so I have to find a new way to follow blogs. I'm still undecided, but I will probably follow blogs by either:

Judging by the recent followers I have gained on Bloglovin, it seems many people are choosing to follow this way.

So if you want to stay in touch and see my new house, please head over toDIY Decorator and subscribe. We don't move for another 6 weeks, but I wanted to set up the new blog before I have to deal with packing and unpacking boxes.

Friday, 22 February 2013

Have you ever lived with old stained carpet that never looks clean and wondered 'what would it feel like with fresh new carpet?'. Well it feels fantastic!!!!

This is our formal living room which we call 'The Good Room'. I was oiling our timber blinds last year and knocked over a whole tin of Danish oil on the carpet. That was the final straw - the carpet HAD to be replaced.

The old carpet was a cheap cream carpet that was 15 years old and had seen better days. You ready?

Place the rolled oats, maple syrup and olive oil into a bowl and toss to combine.

Spread the mixture onto 2 baking trays lined with parchment paper.

Bake in the oven at 180C/350F or 160C/320F fan forced for 5-7 minutes.

Roughly chop the nuts and add them to the oats, giving them a good stir to ensure they brown evenly. Cook for another 5-10 minutes. All ovens vary, so just keep an eye on it. Burnt oats and nuts taste terrible. Remove the trays from the oven and allow the mixture to cool.

Add the dried fruit to the oat and nut mixture, and thoroughly mix.

I store my toasted muesli in an air-tight plastic cereal container. It will last a few weeks, but I usually eat it all before then.

Notes & Variations:
This is a really flexible recipe. You can easily adapt it to suit your own taste.
Apart from oats, you can also add rolled rice, or unprocessed wheat bran.Nuts & Seeds
Use any mix of the following:

cashews

almonds

hazelnuts

walnuts

brazil nuts

macadamias

pecan nuts

pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

poppy seeds

sesame seeds

Dried Fruit

Use any mix of the following:

raisins

sultanas (buy the natural ones without added oil)

currants

craisins (dried cranberries)

chopped dried apricots

chopped dried apple or mango

chopped dried fig

goji berries

Extras

You can sprinkle over chia seeds or ground flax seeds at the time of serving. Add a dollop of yoghurt (I make my own soy yoghurt), or add fresh fruit.

If you want some extra spice, you can add a sprinkle of cinnamon to the oats when you toast them.

I find a ratio of 4 parts oats, 1 part nuts and seeds, and 1 part dried fruit works for me. You may wish to make it heavier or lighter.

I also find that 120ml of maple syrup is sweet enough for me, but you may choose to use more or less. If you use agave nectar, reduce the amount slightly. If you use honey, a runny honey is best.

Interesting Facts

I would call this Granola, but the name 'Granola' is trademarked in Australia and New Zealand by Sanitarium. Granola is just rolled oats, nuts and honey that have been baked as a breakfast cereal, but only Sanitarium can all it that, so let's call this toasted muesli.

A friend of mine who has spent a number of holidays in Switzerland told me that the cereal aisle of the supermarkets there are completely different to ours. There are virtually no pre-packaged cereals in boxes. Instead the aisle is filled with all the ingredients people need to make their own muesli. Interesting huh?

If you've never made your own muesli before, I urge you to give it a try. It's also a great way to use up all the left over dried fruit that I used to make my OMS Christmas Pudding.

Thursday, 14 February 2013

Whenever something is playing on my mind, I turn to pinterest as a distraction, and a pleasant way to pass the time until the issue is resolved. I have some things on my mind at the moment, so I've been madly pinning.

Did you know that ivy kissing balls are symbolic of love and commitment With everything that is happening in our lives at the moment, I forgot to wish my husband a happy valentine's day this morning. I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you tonight.

Tuesday, 12 February 2013

I just love magnolias, do you? I decided I wanted a little more magnolia in my house.

What I started with

Earthborn Homewares had the most beautiful artificial magnolias on sale for half price at $9.95 per stem, so I picked up 4. I already had the white butterfly pot. It is a Jamie Durie one from Big W. The dry floral foam is from the discount shop (Overflow).

I cut the magnolias down to a size that better suited the pot. I used wire cutters as them stems were thick.

Then I cut the floral foam to size with a knife and inserted it into the pot. To arrange the flowers, I just pushed the stems into the foam.

The problem is - you can see the foam (not pretty), so I cut a piece of fake moss mat that I had (from House & Garden), then pushed the flowers back through the moss and the foam.

Here's my magnolia arrangement.

You can play around with the stems and leaves, bending them into shape.

This is in my family room, and just around the corner is the magnolia wreath in the dining room.

Friday, 8 February 2013

I am grateful that I have a walk in wardrobe. It's lovely to be able to see all your clothes hanging there to decide what to wear.

When we first moved into this house over 12 years ago, the walk in robe just had a shelf and single hanging rail. Several years ago, Dad lifted the shelf to 2 metres high so we could add a drawer unit and double-hanging. The basic wardrobe units you can buy are pretty simple looking.

I decided mine needed to look a little nicer. So I added some molding around the drawers and replaced the basic C-style handles with square pull handles.

I didn't repaint the whole drawer. I just painted the molding white to match. Screw on the new handles and voila!!!

Why can't they just make them like this? Is it just that everything is made to look modern and I'm not a modern girl?

I also bought some clear acrylic shoe boxes from Howard's Storage World. I have over 40 pairs of shoes. Is that excessive? I don't think so, but I'd be interested to hear how many other people have.

My friends on instagram know that I have a serious condition of repeat buying. In this case it's white shirts. I have a lot of them.

The old wardrobe insert? Well it went onto my husband's side. He'll have to wait until I'm motivated enough to buy and trim another wardrobe insert before his side looks as stylish as mine.

So that's the laundry cupboard and the walk in robe sorted. I'm on a roll! Have a great weekend everyone.